[sickcodebruh]

One of my favorite experiences from my daughter’s earliest years was the realization that she was able to think about, describe, and deliberately do things much earlier than I realized. More plainly: once I recognized she was doing something deliberately, I often went back and realized she had been doing that same thing for days or weeks prior. We encountered this a lot with words but also physical abilities, like figuring out how to make her BabyBjorn bouncer move. We had a policy of talking to her like she understood on the off-chance that she could and just couldn’t communicate it. She just turned 5 and continues to surprise us with the complexity of her inner world.

[marktangotango]

We did this, and I'd add that repeating what they say back to them so they get that feedback is important too. It's startling to see the difference between our kids and their class mates, who's parents don't talk them (I know this from observing at the countless birthday parties, school events, and sports events). Talking to kids is like watering flower, they bloom into beautiful beings.